If you have ever driven a car with an automatic transmission, then you know that there are two big differences between an automatic transmission and amanu al transmission:

• There is no clutch pedal in an automatic transmission car.
• There is no gear shift in an automatic transmission car. Once you put the transmission into drive, everything else is automatic.

Both the automatic transmission (plus its torque converter) and amanual transmission (with  itsclutch) accomplish exactly the same thing, but they do it in totally different ways. It turns out that the way an automatic transmission does it is absolutely amazing!

Read the rest: Kimmer Transmission News

If you drive a stick-shift car, then you may have several questions floating in your head.

How does the funny “H” patternthat I am moving this shift knob through have any relation to the gears inside the transmission? What is moving inside the transmission when I move the shifter? 
When I mess up and hear that horrible grinding sound, what is actually grinding? What would happen if I were to accidentally shift into reverse while I am speeding down the freeway? Would the entire transmission explode?

In this article, we’ll answer all of these questions and more as we explore the interior of a manual transmission.Cars need transmissions because of the physics of the gasoline engine. First, any engine has a redline — a maximum rpm value above which the engine cannot go without exploding. Second, if you have read How Horsepower Works, then you know that engines have narrow rpm ranges where horsepower and torque are at their maximum. For example, an engine might produce its maximum horsepower at 5,500 rpm. The transmission allows thegear ratio between the engine and the drive wheels to change as the car speeds up and slows down. You shift gears so the engine can stay below the redline and near the rpm band of its best performance. READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE